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And I just picked up a ten man Vostroyan squad for $27. Not a huge saving, but less than 50% Oz retail price.

I got some good deals on Leman Russ tanks on ebay.

Okay, firstly, this is not a "what's the best deal you've ever gotten on ebay?" thread. I'm sure some people have gotten ludicrously good deals now and again, but that's not the norm

Ovion wrote:I rarely pay more than 25% retail for something, and when I'm after it I'm rarely in a rush, so I'll put in 10, 20, 50 lowball bids and just keep trying till one comes up for me.

This is actually kind of interesting. It's sort of like the idea that the cheapest way to travel is to not care where you're going. If you don't care what 40k unit you get (or what unit in your army that you get), then you can get some pretty good deals on whatever happens to float by.

Of course, not as useful if you have anything more specific in mind...

Well, I don't want to give away my secret, but when I'm having my morning coffee I punch 'warhammer' into the search bar in eBay, set it to worldwide, filter to 'auction only' and filter by 'time ending soonest'. Then I spend ten minutes browsing through auctions that are all about to finish, often with no or little bids. You can get some real bargains that way, and since I've usually got multiple projects on the go (currently working on a Nurgle force, and IG force, an Ork force, a Sisters of Battle force, and always looking to add to my Grey Knights) it's pretty easy to find a good bargain here and there.

 Kaldor wrote:
Well, I don't want to give away my secret, but when I'm having my morning coffee I punch 'warhammer' into the search bar in eBay, set it to worldwide, filter to 'auction only' and filter by 'time ending soonest'. Then I spend ten minutes browsing through auctions that are all about to finish, often with no or little bids. You can get some real bargains that way, and since I've usually got multiple projects on the go (currently working on a Nurgle force, and IG force, an Ork force, a Sisters of Battle force, and always looking to add to my Grey Knights) it's pretty easy to find a good bargain here and there.

Ah, so you're the one who keeps sniping the Mark IV Venerables I bid on.

Also, it helps to build a rapport with a certain seller. I have sometimes gotten discounts when I see someone has a lot to sell by making them an offer on a bunch, but ya, sound advice. Ebay rewards patience, and frequent visits.

Ailaros wrote:Okay, firstly, this is not a "what's the best deal you've ever gotten on ebay?" thread. I'm sure some people have gotten ludicrously good deals now and again, but that's not the norm

Ovion wrote:I rarely pay more than 25% retail for something, and when I'm after it I'm rarely in a rush, so I'll put in 10, 20, 50 lowball bids and just keep trying till one comes up for me.

This is actually kind of interesting. It's sort of like the idea that the cheapest way to travel is to not care where you're going. If you don't care what 40k unit you get (or what unit in your army that you get), then you can get some pretty good deals on whatever happens to float by.

Of course, not as useful if you have anything more specific in mind...

Kind of yes and no - I'm generally looking for specific things (though decent deals end up on the list), it's just persistence, and sheer number of bids.
For example, I was recently after a pair of the old style Daemon Prince models for the Boons table results (one generic, one to convert into a 'pimp prince' specifically for Bile Transformation), and it took me over a month and roughly 40 bids overall, but I got the pair for around £15 (about £20 with postage - this is slightly higher than I normally pay, but then one was new in its box, the other had wings for my bits box... that said - both were minimum bids aswell.)

Obviously if you're in a rush for something you'll pay a bit more, but if you're in no hurry it's worked almost every time I haven't been after a particularly rare piece (like Doom Rider, the special edition Ethereal with Drone Controller, Aun'va and such).

It's about making the ludicrously good deal the norm by refusing to accept anything else.

There are deals to be had, its a matter of finding them. A few things you have to consider:

1) The US has an abundance of discount sellers, if you want new on sprue, these sellers are usually the best option.
2) Ebay is a giant yardsale, treat it as such. you need to look constantly, but if you do, you will find an auction mislabeled or put in the wrong category and you will get a great deal.
3) If you wish to practice repair skills, ebay is an excellent venue. typically the worse the picture (poor lighting, blurry, very far from model) the more of a challenge the project will be. never trust the description and ask for more pictures.
4) As a general rule, older out of favor armies will be much cheaper. Before 6th edition released, people were basically giving away Tau, including brick and mortar game stores liquidating stock on ebay. Depending on your local gaming community, you could always pick up trade fodder.

I got a box of brand new Kasrkin models for $15 because I accidentally typed in "Kasarkin" and apparently the seller made the same mistake.

Like someone else said, you can get really lucky on eBay it just takes time and patience.

Ebay is part of the randomhammer 40,000 experience itself. One day you could save only 5%, the next day 75%. It all depends on what's on sale.

There are good deals on ebay. This is one thats a no-brainer of a good deal.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Warhammer-40k-Necron-Night-Scythe-army-9-flyers-w-case-/130830034456?pt=Games_US&hash=item1e7613e618

Just the night scythes are 405 bucks, plus the warriors, lord, crypteks, etc.

The general rule of thumb is that if a bunch of people are bidding on it, its worthwhile.

Yeah, that's going to go up a bit.

EBay is for savvy bargain hunters and OOP models. If you're just buying off the rack, or you want it right away, you may be better off with the discount dealers.

However, with all the price bitching, I watched a Sisters of Battle Army worth probably four hundred list go for less than two a few weeks ago. If you're patient, there's a ton of great deals. It doesn't totally replace things like Craigslist or the discount sites, but at the same time, there's a ton more out there.

Find someone who sells out of box sprues, message them and get bulk deals. Its what I do, you can save a lot of money on certain packages that way.

I find it easiest to check up on listings on ebay when I am waiting for other things through my smart phone. 3 people in front of me in line at the grocery store? Quick search on some of the dark eldar units I am looking for, and other non-40k related things as well. If you are sitting in front of your computer scanning ebay for hours every day you are most definitely doing it wrong if you are concerned about time usage.

I usually only buy OOP stuff on ebay, though, since the Warstore is 20% off and super speedy shipping any currently available plastics for only $5 flat shipping. Still have a passion for the old chaos champion and sorcerer models from the very old fantasy line. Used a bunch of them through the years in my various chaos marine armies, and others just collected. Also have 2 old champions on palanquins in my nurgle marine army. Been trying to find cheap original bloodletter figs lately, but they are getting more and more pricey. Just want to finish out a unit of 10 so that I can have 1 full unit of all 4 different blood letter styles in my khorne army.

Skriker

Ebay can be hit and miss. I tend to look around every week or so and put minimum bids on but rarely actually win anything.

But every now and then it pays off.

A couple of years ago I got my necron codex for just a couple of pounds. And just yesterday I picked up 12 firewarriors and 2 gun drones for a mere £4.40.

I check for misspellings from time to time. You can find an occasional Warhamer deal if you keep looking.

 kronk wrote:
I check for misspellings from time to time. You can find an occasional Warhamer deal if you keep looking.

This is a good tatic I use also, did it for MTG cards when I played and got killer deals. No dice with 40k yet, but my day is coming.

 g0atsticks wrote:

 kronk wrote:
I check for misspellings from time to time. You can find an occasional Warhamer deal if you keep looking.

This is a good tatic I use also, did it for MTG cards when I played and got killer deals. No dice with 40k yet, but my day is coming.

I 3rd this. I posted it before, but I got a squad of "Kasarkin" for $15.

You can spend a LOT of time on ebay trying to find things, and next week those same exact tricks will wield completely different results. Patience and persistence will throw anyone a bone every now and then, it just depends on how much time you put in and how lucky you are.

yeah I'm just gonna sing along with the "it's hit and miss" crowd

one time I got 2 lemon russ's for £30 and I'm yet to see another deal anywhere near as good as that

Best deal I ever got was 31 seraphim (now $12-14 a piece) for $60.

Ebay is amazing. I've gotten two armies now, one completely unpainted and one just primed, for 50% off retail. One even came with an Army Transport bag for free.

What you have to keep in mind is that these deals don't come along every day. You have to watch for them. Personally, I check Ebay every morning while I eat breakfast and drink my coffee. You just set up your searches with the appropriate filters and save them to your profile, so you can one click search for whatever is newly posted.

In addition, I have a seller that does GW sprues for 20% off retail and ships for free. Why wouldn't I buy the same stuff from him that I get at the store for 20% off?

Best deal I've had so far:

22 GKSS, 15 Terminators, 1 Dreadknight, 5 HQ models (Draigo, a Brother Captain, a Librarian, a Grand Master, and Stern), a forgeworld Dread, and other bits for $200. Everything unpainted, assembled, magnetized, and in a foam army transport bag. Hell...the Termies and the Dreadknight alone are $200 retail.

I can find plenty of BNIB stuff on ebay which doesn't come anywhere near GW's price when you add postage. In fact most of that sort of stuff is priced in the same ball park as Wayland games.

What I like are the auctions that make the "New In Box" item go for more than MSRP, and then tack on another $5-$10 for shipping...

I pretty much skip any/all auctions that have "Pro-Painted" in the tittle.

Pro-painted usually means straight into the stripping fluid for me. I usually only bother with metal models since they are vastly easier to strip.

Okay, so I've been following people's suggestions for a couple of days now, and I'm starting to get it.

Ebay is still crummy for "active" buyers, that is, people who know what they want, and set out to buy it. Unless there just happens to be a good deal in that one window you're looking for it, you're not likely to get anything.

I'm starting to get the vibe for the "passive" buying motif. Letting what you might want come to you, rather than going to what you know you want. It's starting to make a lot of sense, the more I do it, though. The only problem is resisting impulse buys. Yeah, I COULD use practically anything, but that doesn't mean I should buy it, no matter how on sale it is...

On a related note, I did buy something from an ebay store recently because I needed to use the other feature of ebay (getting something now, rather than whenever GW decides my FLGS should get it). Enter the world of the vagaries of e-commerce.

In my particular case, it was one of those rare breaks for the coustomer. They screwed up my order, but rather than having the wrong stuff arrive, or the right stuff arrive broken, it was instead a windfall. I ordered one leman russ, and when I broke open the bubblewrap, TWO complete russ sprues fell out!

I emailed them back about it, and they said keep it. Obviously this happens pretty rarely, but I spent a couple of years working with an online retailer, and I was rather surprised with how nonchalant the person I was working for was about his inventory. Sort of like how if you write GW an email saying that something was defective (even if it's not), they'll just send you another one.

I don't know what it is about the internet vs. brick and mortar stores, but, in some ways, they do seem to have better customer service in this regard (at least, with proper online retailers).

 Ailaros wrote:

I'm starting to get the vibe for the "passive" buying motif. Letting what you might want come to you, rather than going to what you know you want. It's starting to make a lot of sense, the more I do it, though. The only problem is resisting impulse buys. Yeah, I COULD use practically anything, but that doesn't mean I should buy it, no matter how on sale it is...

The first is a rather interesting observation. I never really considered that I do it like that, but when someone spells it out for me, it's clear I am "passive buying."

The second is very true. It's how I started my space wolves army.

Well here are some examples from Ebay. I play Necrons so I looked at what was available for me. Note these are all AUD.
Lychguard/Praetorians new in box, current bid is $35 inc shipping, retail is $55.
Immortals/Deathmarks $34 inc shipping, retail is $55.
Necron Battleforce for $110 inc shipping, retail is $170.
Destroyer, current bid $23 inc shipping, retail is $35.
And they were just the first things that came up.

I usually watch a ton of things to see how the bidding develops, then try to get in a last minute cheap bid if I'm interested in something.

I give myself a montly budget for this kind of stuff and I often buy things that I will paint in a few month's time.

 Ailaros wrote:
I don't know what it is about the internet vs. brick and mortar stores, but, in some ways, they do seem to have better customer service in this regard (at least, with proper online retailers).

I've had mixed luck with online stores.

Hoard o bits has given me substandard customer service in the past. I've gotten swords from them with the tips broken off, and they never replaced them. I've had orders lost from them, and never got it resolved.

Spikey bits has given me good customer service. Anytime I can now buy bits from them, I do.

Generally I only buy bits from online stores, as I like to support my FLGS.

I find it hit or miss; but mostly miss. I did get some Crisis Suits for about $2-3 less than retail (with shipping), but I lucked out with those. Since I rarely found deals, I switched to Craigslist and have had some good luck there.

Edit - I did get some Devilfish bitz for dirty cheap, and ended up assembling two brand new transports for a little over 50% off. That was a one-time thing, however :(